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Jurors Issue Split Verdict In Webster Sex Abuse Case

Jurors convicted former Bengal Nate Webster on sex abuse charges but acquitted him on others.

Prosecutors accused Webster of having sex with the teenage daughter of a Bengals employee when she was 15 years old, sometimes at gunpoint.

After nearly eight hours of deliberations, the jury convicted Webster on four counts of unlawful sexual conduct with a minor but acquitted him of gross sexual imposition, sexual battery and one count of unlawful sexual conduct with a minor.

The jury also did not attach any gun specifications to the four counts for which Webster was convicted.

Webster admits to conducting a sexual relationship with the girl, who is now 18 years old, but claims they never had sex until she was 16 years old, which is the age of legal consent in Ohio.

Prosecutors offered him a plea deal that would have put him in prison for four years and required him to register as a sex offender upon his release.

Defense attorneys argued that the girl was mentally unstable, and Webster's friends, family and neighbors said the teen sold marijuana to some of them and claimed to have been molested by her father, which witnesses said they did not believe.

The 34-year-old Webster was a linebacker for the Bengals in 2004 before being sidelined by an injury and then was picked up by the Denver Broncos in 2006. He played for the Broncos through the 2008 season.

He served as a defensive coordinator in 2010 for the Bellevue High School football team but left the squad at the end of the season.

Webster faces up to 20 years in prison when he is sentenced June 6. Judge Ralph Winkler said Webster would likely receive a prison term, so he was taken into police custody and will remain jailed until the sentencing hearing.

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